Re: Advice on SQL and records


Marshall Spight wrote:
> fran_beta@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> >
> > I guess the problem is "what exactly are the records in
> > 'StudentClasses'"?
>
> The term "records" isn't a great one, as it promotes record-based
> thinking. Set-based thinking is more native to the relational world.
>

So is this the term you'd use for a all of the data pertinent to one
entity in a table?

Would "array" be an equally good term, and if not (perhaps the range of
contexts in which it is used) why not?


> "A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming,
> is not worth knowing." -- Alan Perlis
>
> SQL, flaws and all, will change the way you think about programming
> if you bother to really learn it. Most don't; instead they just try
> to find a way to map their current preferred language/way of thinking
> onto it, find it doesn't fit very well, and judge it harshly. Imagine
> a 1960s FORTRAN programmer being unfrozen and trying to learn Java.
> He would quickly assume it was inferior because it lacks GOTO. Try
> to get over the hump; SQL has a lot to offer.
>

I'd love to learn all this stuff properly. It's a real gap in my grasp
of the content. Instead, I've been given the bare bones and am trying
to piece them together into a coherent whole like some obsessive
archaeologist.

>
> > It seems implicit from what you say that StudentClasses includes all
> > ClassID records AND all StudentID records, whereas I assume that only
> > ClassID records would be in there.
>
> Neither one. The StudentClasses table has only two attributes: a student
> id
> and a class id. It exists to model what students are in what classes,
> and
> not any facts about students or classes per se.
>
>

OK

> > Is it the case that records contain records?
>
> Surprisingly, no.
>
>
> Marshall


So how would you go about answering which table was likely to contain
the most records or "sets"?

Fran

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Advice on SQL and records
    ... "A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, ... SQL, flaws and all, will change the way you think about programming ... > ClassID records AND all StudentID records, ... The StudentClasses table has only two attributes: ...
    (comp.databases.theory)
  • Re: Advice on SQL and records
    ... >> Stefan Rybacki wrote: ... The target of normilization is do avoid redundances. ... It seems implicit from what you say that StudentClasses includes all ... ClassID records AND all StudentID records, ...
    (comp.databases.theory)